Grateful Patients - Julie Bullock

November 22, 1989

At five-foot-nothing and weighing just over 100 pounds, Dr. Julie Bullock looks more like she belongs on top of a race horse winning the Kentucky Derby than underneath the animal stitching up a bad cut.

But, the farmers and pet-owners, who depend on Gloucester County's first large animal veterinarian to treat their animals, praise the day the woman graduated from vet school.

"The size of the doctor is irrelevant in large-animal practice," Bullock says. "If an 1100-pound horse doesn't want to do something, it doesn't matter if you're a 6-foot-2, 240-pound weightlifter. You're going to lose a physical fight with the animal. And at my size, I'm never tempted to waste time in that losing battle."

When Bullock first set her career course, at Christopher Newport College in Newport News, she envisioned herself helping people as a psychologist. But she could never quite let go of her childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian. To be safe, she studied for a double major in biology and psychology.

"Like most young people, I went to college thinking I could save the world," Bullock recalls. "I spent hours counseling people with all kinds of problems. Finally, I realized that people don't really want to get better. They just wanted to tell somebody their problems.

"It was then that I realized I was a fixer, not a solver. I knew then that I was destined to be either a veterinarian or a car mechanic. I chose the career where the patient shows its gratitude when you fix it."

Bullock graduated from Virginia Tech's veterinary school in May. She knew she wanted to return to the Peninsula. So, after graduation, she came home to live with her parents in Denbigh and began looking under "V" in the yellow pages for a job.

When Dr. Ronald Myers, of Gloucester Point Veterinary Clinic, said he didn't need another full-time small animal doctor, Bullock asked if he'd thought about expanding into large-animal practice. To her surprise, the doctor took her up on the offer.

"A lot of his clients through the years kept trying to get him to come out and look at their large animals," Bullock says. "After we talked, he did a little marketing research and decided the county really needed a large animal veterinarian."

Until the clinic's workload justifies a full-time large animal practitioner, Bullock spends part of her workday treating small animals. But her clientele has been steadily increasing, and she expects to be swamped with clients by spring.

"Because I'm small and I look younger than I really am, people may have trouble taking me seriously at first," she says. "But respect is something you've got to earn. That's why they call this the practice of veterinary medicine. To be the best, you've got to practice."